HPSP & Relationship Advice—How to Avoid Potential Residency Separation

[DBicketicket6]

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Hey everyone, I’m a first-year Air Force HPSP student, and my girlfriend is a second-year civilian med student. We’re both unsure of our exact specialties but are highly considering Family Medicine. We’re trying to figure out if we can realistically make our relationship work through residency or if we should go our separate ways (she doesn't want to be apart from her husband for 3-4 yrs). Since I could be placed anywhere for a military residency, and she’s likely to stay near her home town. I’ve heard that if she took a year off so we could couples match, it might increase my chances of a civilian deferment, but she doesn’t want to delay her training out of fear of it impacting her education.

• If we were married and she was already in a residency would that increase my chances of getting a civilian deferment?
• Would her delaying a year and do ing couples match actually improve my chances?
• What are some other options or ways to increase the likelihood of us staying together?
• Any advice from those who’ve been in a similar situation?

Appreciate any insight—trying to figure out if this is something we can navigate or if we need to go our separate ways.

 

[comp1]

Can't you withdraw from the HPSP and thus limit yourself to just the one year of service obligation? That might be a good first step. There are a lot of easier ways to get your med student debt repaid that isn't going to have such a dramatic impact on your life where you're literally making marriage or your potential spouse's residency decisions based on it.

 

[DBicketicket6]

Can't you withdraw from the HPSP and thus limit yourself to just the one year of service obligation? That might be a good first step. There are a lot of easier ways to get your med student debt repaid that isn't going to have such a dramatic impact on your love life.

That is a great question! I asked one of the HPSP advisors at AFIT and they gave me a pretty firm "no that's not possible." It seems the only way to get out now is to be discharged or voluntarily separate because of failing medical school or medical reasons. But that is something I would be open to if it did become a possibility. If you hear different let me know! Thank you!

 

[afteranesthesia]

That is a great question! I asked one of the HPSP advisors at AFIT and they gave me a pretty firm "no that's not possible." It seems the only way to get out now is to be discharged or voluntarily separate because of failing medical school or medical reasons. But that is something I would be open to if it did become a possibility. If you hear different let me know! Thank you!

It's 100 percent an option. They lied to you at AFIT. I would most definitely look into this more so you can get loans in place for the next 3 years and figure out how to wade through the year you owe them.

 

[afteranesthesia]

Hey everyone, I’m a first-year Air Force HPSP student, and my girlfriend is a second-year civilian med student. We’re both unsure of our exact specialties but are highly considering Family Medicine. We’re trying to figure out if we can realistically make our relationship work through residency or if we should go our separate ways (she doesn't want to be apart from her husband for 3-4 yrs). Since I could be placed anywhere for a military residency, and she’s likely to stay near her home town. I’ve heard that if she took a year off so we could couples match, it might increase my chances of a civilian deferment, but she doesn’t want to delay her training out of fear of it impacting her education.

• If we were married and she was already in a residency would that increase my chances of getting a civilian deferment?
• Would her delaying a year and do ing couples match actually improve my chances?
• What are some other options or ways to increase the likelihood of us staying together?
• Any advice from those who’ve been in a similar situation?

Appreciate any insight—trying to figure out if this is something we can navigate or if we need to go our separate ways.

to answer your questions:

- No they don't care your spouse is civilian and in a certain residency program. Needs of the AF trump all.
- delaying a year and couples matching only counts if you both can civilian match and if you go FM, you will 100 percent most likely be military matching first. Your spouse could THEN only rank programs in the city you match in, though, but that also only works if there ARE programs in that city. Who knows if there will be.
- There aren't great options
- Haven't been in this situation, but heard many stories of separations during training as a result of this kind of thing

(My background - former military anesthesiologist.)

 

[afteranesthesia]

to answer your questions:

- No they don't care your spouse is civilian and in a certain residency program. Needs of the AF trump all.
- delaying a year and couples matching only counts if you both can civilian match and if you go FM, you will 100 percent most likely be military matching first. Your spouse could THEN only rank programs in the city you match in, though, but that also only works if there ARE programs in that city. Who knows if there will be.
- There aren't great options
- Haven't been in this situation, but heard many stories of separations during training as a result of this kind of thing

(My background - former military anesthesiologist.)

My advice - try like hell to get out of the military. Figure out how to do it. There was a guy in my civilian med school who did this. He was HPSP when we started and then all of sudden we learned he was out and not going military. I didn't realize how much I was going to hate the military, but I sure as hell wish I had asked more questions and copied his style in retrospect now.

 

[DBicketicket6]

It's 100 percent an option. They lied to you at AFIT. I would most definitely look into this more so you can get loans in place for the next 3 years and figure out how to wade through the year you owe them.

So I can fill out all the paperwork to voluntarily separate but they have to approve it. AFIT was saying that it is unlikey that they let me separate unless I was to fail out of medical school or have a severe hardship. So I could still try but for my reasons it doesn't sound likely. I would love to keep looking into this if you have different information or resources that suggest that this is not accurate. Thank you for your input!

 

[armytrainingsir]

So, in other words, you’re contemplating walking away from a “free“ medical education, with plans to go into the lowest paying specialty over your “girlfriend“ that I’m guessing you’ve known less than a year.

That’s a bold strategy Cotton.

 

[comp1]

There are much cheaper free medical educations, regardless of the rationale or specialty.

 

[armytrainingsir]

There are much cheaper free medical educations, regardless of the rationale or specialty.

Everybody talks about them, but I’ve never really seen one.

OP is trading a known entity worth 200+ thousand for his girlfriend, I’m guessing of less than a year.

That’s a pretty big gamble.

Looking back at my group of medical school friends, I can’t remember a single one marrying the girl he dated as a first year medical student

Anyway, just playing devils advocate.

 

[comp1]

I mean just the VA EDRP would be better as it wouldn't have the same residency issues, although it still might require relocation after residency. It's probably too late for that now for the OP though. Instead, the OP could rely on the VA's EDRP and PSLF combo to quickly pay off any loans post service obligations.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

I mean just the VA EDRP would be better as it wouldn't have the same residency issues, although it still might require relocation after residency. It's probably too late for that now for the OP though. Instead, the OP could rely on the VA's EDRP and PSLF combo to quickly pay off any loans post service obligations.

The VA program is way way way more competitive. You can't throw out around as a given like mil HPSP.

 

[pgg]

Rearranging your life that dramatically for fear of some maybe-issues that might affect you years in the future for the sake of a girl you're not married to ...

Oof. Give it some thought.

 

[comp1]

The VA HPSP is more competitive? Are there any stats on that? I had no idea either was competitive. I'm definitely not saying the OP can transition after quitting the mil one, but there are literally tens of thousands of unfilled and recruiting physician positions in the VA. I'm not sure why it would be competitive.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

The VA HPSP is more competitive? Are there any stats on that? I had no idea either was competitive. I'm definitely not saying the OP can transition after quitting the mil one, but there are literally tens of thousands of unfilled and recruiting physician positions in the VA. I'm not sure why it would be competitive.

They only take a few each year. They're not necessarily funded to fill all the slots that need filling, afaik. Check the multitude of threads of people with really good grades not getting offers. I got rejected but was offered HPSP for all branches as an anecdote.